James Calhoun

James Calhoun (24 August 1845-25 June 1876) was a First Lieutenant of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment during the American Civil War and Indian Wars.

Biography
James Calhoun was born on 24 August 1845 in Cincinnati, Ohio to a wealthy merchant family, but he decided to forgo his future career as a merchant to join the US Army in 1864 upon returning from a trip to Europe. Calhoun ended the American Civil War as a sergeant in the Union army, and in July 1867 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry, meeting Colonel George Armstrong Custer's sister Margaret Custer in 1870. He would marry her in 1872, and Custer had him promoted to First Lieutenant. In 1876, he became the acting commander of L Company of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment after the company's commander became an aide-de-camp to Philip Sheridan, and he led the company at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Calhoun and his men formed a defensive perimeter on their hill as the Sioux attacked, and they died fighting; their bodies were all found stripped and mutilated on the hilltop.